Press Release:

Bi-directional transformations (BX) – Theory and Applications Across Disciplines

The Banff International Research Station will host the "Bi-directional transformations (BX) – Theory and Applications Across Disciplines" workshop from December 1st to December 6th, 2013.

Bidirectional transformations (bx) are mathematics-based formalisms used in applied computer science for maintaining the consistency of two (or more) related data structures. Researchers from many different areas including software engineering (SE), programming languages (PL), databases (DB), and graph transformation (GT) are actively investigating the use of bx to solve a diverse set of problems. Moreover, new fields in applied computer science are discovering BX as a potential solution to current and ongoing challenges. Although researchers are actively working on bx in their respective communities, most of this research has been conducted in silos and there has not been a lot of cross-fertilization among the different communities. This untapped synergy is unfortunate and has impedes progress in this important field of applied computer science. The BIRS workshop will build on recent momentum and results generated at a previous Dagstuhl seminar on BX. This previous event focused on the exploration of the fundamental concepts and theories underlying bx in each of the represented area. The BIRS workshop will shift focus to the next step, namely the alignment and integration of different concepts, formalisms and techniques.

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is a collaborative Canada-US-Mexico venture that provides an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the Mathematical Sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station is located at The Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).

BIRS Scientific Director, Nassif Ghoussoub
E-mail: birs-director[@]birs.ca
http://www.birs.ca/~nassif